Metal powders may be necessary in a variety of fabrication methods. Metal powders may be expensive and may have long lead times and a small supply base. Powder production processes may include plasma rotating electrode process (PREP), gas atomized (GA), water atomized, centrifugal atomization, plasma atomization, comminution, mechanical alloying, oxide reduction, chloride reduction, hydrometallurgical techniques and carbonyl reaction. PREP and GA may be of particular importance to production.
A common drawback of conventional metal powder-producing methods may include the requirement of input stock of a particular form, generally a costly form. The variety of processes may produce powders having a variety of qualities and size distribution. The whole supply base may suffer due to the small number of suppliers. Therefore, a low-cost alternative to producing metal powder is needed.